Roy Jenkins

Roy Jenkins (11 November 1920-5 January 2003) was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 30 November 1967 to 19 June 1970, succeeding James Callaghan and preceding Iain Macleod. He was also leader of the UK Social Democratic Party from 1982 to 1983 and led the UK Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 1988 to 1997.

Biography
Roy Jenkins was born in Abersychan, Monmouthshire, Wales in 1920, and he was educated at Abersychan County School and Oxford. During World War II he worked as a code-breaker, and became a Labour Party MP in the 1948 Southwark by-election. He was an effective Minister of Aviation from 1964 to 1965, though his reputation was made as one of the most successful Home Secretaries (1965-7) and Chancellors of the Exchequer since the war. In the former position, he instituted a string of liberal reforms, notably the legalization of abortion and homosexuality. As Chancellor, his budgets eliminated a large balance of payments deficit, though the austerity which so effectively reduced consumption did little to endear his government to large sections of the electorate. As Foreign Secretary in Harold Wilson's last government (1974-6), he was a committed advocate of British membership in the EEC. He became President of the European Commission in 1976, having lost to James Callaghan in the election for the Labour leadership. Alarmed by Labour's drift to the left, he re-entered British politics and co-founded the UK Social Democratic Party in 1981. He was its leader until 1983, when he was replaced by David Owen. He gained a sensational by-election victory for the SDP in 1982 at Glasgow Hillhead, a seat he lost in 1987. He was elected Chancellor of Oxford University in 1987, and was raised to the peerage in 1988. He wrote a number of biographies which, despite the absence of new or controversial insights, enjoyed considerable popularity, including Asquith (1964), Truman (1986), Baldwin (1987), and Gladstone (1995).